Korobov & Rapport Winners at European Blitz & Rapid Ch

The European Blitz and Rapid Championships were held last weekend in Warsaw, Poland. On Friday Anton Korobov of Ukraine won the blitz tournament ahead of local hero Radek Wojtaszek and Vladimir Malakhov of Russia. The rapid event was spread over two days and was won by Richard Rapport of Hungary. Malakhov finished second there, and third came Tigran Petrosian of Armenia.

By IM Stanislaw Zawadzki

Each year hundreds of chess players from all over Europe decide to spend their last weekend before Christmas in Warsaw to take part in the international chess festival composing of the European Rapid and Blitz Championship. Many world class players consider the Warsaw festival as an obligatory point in their sport schedules.

That the Polish capital hosted the European Rapid and Blitz Championship for the 9th time in a row. Both tournaments took place in the Palace of Culture and Science which is situated in the very heart of Warsaw.

Blitz

The blitz tournament was held on Friday, December 13th, 2013 consisted of 11 double rounds and gathered 437 players, among them 39 with the Grandmaster title. The fight for the final victory was very tough and the medals were decided in the last game.

The gold medal went to GM Anton Korobov from the Ukraine who gained 18.5 points out of 22 games. Interestingly, he lost points only in his games against Polish players as he lost 1.5-0.5 to GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek and scored 1-1 draws against GM Bartosz Socko and GM Michał Olszewski.

The silver medal was won by GM Vladislav Tkachiev from France, who won bronze last year. This year the bronze medal went to GM Bartosz Socko from Poland who defeated GM Alexey Dreev in the last round.

Socko's wife, Monika, finised first in the women's competition with 14 points, ahead of WGM Irina Sudakova from Russia and WGM Karina Szzepkowska-Horowska. The championship proved that the game of chess doesn't have any limits and is a game for everyone regardless their culture, nationality or age. As proof, we will just mention that in the 7th round 9-year-old David Ness from Norway defeated 76-year-old Bronislav Jefimow 1.5-0.5!

In the blitz event Korobov could beat Rapport:

European Blitz Championship 2013 | Final Standings

#

Title

Name

Fed

FIDE

Ranking

Pts

1

GM

Korobov, Anton

UKR

B 2753

2713

18,5

2

GM

Tkachiev, Vladislav

FRA

B 2688

2637

17

3

GM

Socko, Bartosz

POL

B 2618

2500

17

4

GM

Rapport, Richard

HUN

B 2598

2676

16,5

5

GM

Dubov, Daniil

RUS

B 2683

2641

16,5

6

GM

Sargissian, Gabriel

ARM

B 2702

2671

16,5

7

GM

Andriasian, Zaven

ARM

B 2679

2621

16,5

8

GM

Wojtaszek, Radosław

POL

2711

2500

16

9

GM

Petrosian, Tigran L.

ARM

B 2613

2660

16

10

GM

Grigoryan, Karen H.

ARM

B 2543

2604

16

11

GM

Cheparinov, Ivan

BUL

B 2668

2672

16

12

GM

Kulaots, Kaido

EST

B 2564

2567

16

13

GM

Mitoń, Kamil

POL

B 2578

2500

15,5

14

GM

Antipov, Mikhail Al.

RUS

B 2517

2511

15,5

15

GM

Azarov, Sergei

BLR

B 2614

2616

15,5

16

GM

Moiseenko, Alexander

UKR

B 2642

2713

15,5

17

GM

Olszewski, Michał

POL

B 2531

2500

15,5

18

GM

Jussupow, Artur

GER

B 2505

2587

15,5

19

GM

Ragger, Markus

AUT

B 2635

2672

15,5

20

IM

Kuźmicz, Krystian

POL

B 2494

2400

15,5

21

GM

Neiksans, Arturs

LAT

B 2541

2554

15,5

22

GM

Tregubov, Pavel V.

RUS

B 2565

2625

15,5

23

GM

Dreev, Aleksey

RUS

B 2704

2668

15

24

GM

Dragun, Kamil

POL

B 2445

2500

15

25

GM

Perunovic, Milos

SRB

B 2569

2613

15

26

GM

Malakhov, Vladimir

RUS

B 2708

2707

15

27

GM

Kovalev, Vladislav

BLR

B 2535

2583

15

28

GM

Lysyj, Igor

RUS

B 2593

2666

15

29

GM

Salgado Lopez, Ivan

ESP

B 2524

2610

15

30

GM

Ivanisevic, Ivan

SRB

B 2641

2619

15

Anton Korobov

Rapid

The European Rapid Championship started in Warsaw on Saturday, December 14th, 2013 with 747 players (603 men, 144 women) from from 29 countries. There were 42 Grandmasters and 602 players with a FIDE rating.

After the first day and seven rounds, the sole leader was the 17-year-old grandmaster Richard Rapport from Hungary, who was the only one who still had a 100% score! The key game for him was played in 7th round, when he crushed the winner of the blitz, Anton Korobov. Ivan Cheparinov of Bulgaria, Markus Ragger of Austria and Bartosz Socko of Poland were tied for second place.

Rapport won the gold medal as he managed to finish the tournament without losing a single game. Besides Korobov, he also outplayed Wojtaszek with Black.

The silver medal was won by Vladimir Malakhov from Russia, who also gained 9.5 points, but was classified on second place due to lower average rating of his opponents. The bronze medal was taken by Tigran Petrosian from Armenia, who also scored 9.5 points after winning his last 5 games. He faced much weaker opponents than Rapport and Malakhov but his third place was still a fantastic result.

In the rapid event it was Rapport who beat Korobov:

European Rapid Championship 2013 | Final Standings

#

Title

Name

Fed

R FIDE

Ranking

Pts

1

GM

Rapport, Richard

HUN

R 2661

2687

9,5

2

GM

Malakhov, Vladimir

RUS

R 2756

2716

9,5

3

GM

Petrosian, Tigran L.

ARM

R 2637

2648

9,5

4

GM

Moiseenko, Alexander

UKR

R 2678

2713

9

5

GM

Korobov, Anton

UKR

R 2752

2713

9

6

GM

Jobava, Baadur

GEO

R 2678

2705

9

7

GM

Socko, Bartosz

POL

R 2661

2500

9

8

GM

Salgado Lopez, Ivan

ESP

R 2620

2597

9

9

GM

Lysyj, Igor

RUS

R 2640

2666

9

10

GM

Krasenkow, Michal

POL

R 2609

2500

9

11

GM

Cheparinov, Ivan

BUL

R 2710

2672

8,5

12

GM

Sargissian, Gabriel

ARM

R 2647

2675

8,5

13

GM

Ragger, Markus

AUT

R 2689

2646

8,5

14

GM

Dubov, Daniil

RUS

R 2602

2629

8,5

15

GM

Wojtaszek, Radoslaw

POL

R 2713

2711

8,5

16

GM

Tkachiev, Vladislav

FRA

R 2675

2637

8,5

17

IM

Pakleza, Zbigniew

POL

R 2471

2400

8,5

18

GM

Ivanisevic, Ivan

SRB

R 2638

2626

8,5

19

GM

Tregubov, Pavel V.

RUS

R 2570

2625

8,5

20

GM

Bryzgalin, Kirill

RUS

R 2584

2460

8,5

21

GM

Neiksans, Arturs

LAT

R 2591

2560

8,5

22

GM

Dragun, Kamil

POL

R 2497

2500

8,5

23

GM

Azarov, Sergei

BLR

R 2666

2616

8,5

24

GM

Stupak, Kirill

BLR

R 2542

2505

8,5

25

IM

Kuźmicz, Krystian

POL

R 2446

2400

8,5

26

GM

Andriasian, Zaven

ARM

R 2592

2610

8,5

27

IM

Plat, Vojtech

CZE

R 2560

2470

8,5

28

FM

Minko, Vladimir

RUS

R 2180

2327

8,5

29

GM

Olszewski, Michał

POL

R 2542

2500

8

30

GM

Grigoryan, Karen H.

ARM

R 2548

2604

8

Richard Rapport

This year's edition of the European Blitz and Rapid Chess Championship was the last one taking place in Warsaw. The next one will be played 19-21 December 2014 in Wroclaw and should be as good as the ones in Warsaw.